Thanks yet again to Ross and his team at SAC for passing on this set to IPMS USA and to our leadership for sending it my way!!!

This set is an almost mandatory upgrade (as they all are), targeted for the new Roden C-123 kit. I have been waiting for someone to do this model for a long time; there are several interesting paint schemes and variants, and I remember these crawling around the sky when I was much younger. A “RANCH HAND” spray bar added to this basic kit would make an interesting yet controversial “Agent Orange” display... Roden makes excellent kits, and have really improved recently; the only drawback I have ever experienced is the softer plastic used for these models tends to bow or flex over time on major structural parts like landing gear. And, as I have said almost countless times before, this is where SAC metal landing gear shines!

Bottom Line: Very accurate and finely detailed WW2 IJN catapults for cruisers and capital ships with cradles and trolleys. Four catapults per set. As good as or better than other photoetch IJN catapult sets, but has some assembly issues.

Among the items recently added to Ultracast’s line of highly detailed resin detail parts are upper cowls that replace those in Eduard’s numerous Spitfire Mk.IX kits. This set (#48265) provides a ready to install one-piece Bulged upper cowl cowl (found on later Mk.IXs) that replaces the kit parts. Note that I say parts because the kit upper cowl comes in two pieces that must be glued together…creating a seam that must then be rubbed out. The Eduard kits are recognized for accuracy and detail and they can be built into excellent replicas of the aircraft, but the two-piece cowl creates extra work for the modeler and creates the likelihood that some molded-in surface detail might be lost in the process. The Ultracast part avoids all of that and speeds the build considerably. This ‘time saver’ aftermarket part comes on a small casting block that is easily removed with a razor saw (See photos below).